Libyan held in ambassador-killing case

Friday

Mar 15, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 15, 2013 at 11:08 AM

TRIPOLI, Libya - Libyan authorities have detained a man investigators believe could be an important witness or suspect in the attack on U.S. outposts in Benghazi, Libya, in September, according to people familiar with the matter.

TRIPOLI, Libya ó Libyan authorities have detained a man investigators believe could be an important witness or suspect in the attack on U.S. outposts in Benghazi, Libya, in September, according to people familiar with the matter.

The man, a Libyan national identified as Faraj al-Chalabi, fled to Pakistan after the attack and returned to Libya only recently, said the sources, who include people in the United States and Libya close to the ongoing investigations.

The U.S. government is aware of al-Chalabiís detention and there are signs American investigators might have been able to pose questions to him, according to the sources. It is not clear whether those questions were posed in person or through Libyan authorities.

Precisely what role the detained man played in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack is unclear.

Sources in Washington said they did not think he was a principal instigator or a frontline leader of the attack on the poorly guarded temporary consulate compound and a more-fortified CIA compound nearby.

Ambassador Christopher Stevens, two CIA security officers and another U.S. diplomat were killed in the attacks.

The Benghazi incident became a major headache for President Barack Obamaís administration just months before the November presidential election. Republicans assailed the Democratic president partly over security lapses, but also over the administrationís conflicting early accounts of what happened.